Searching
by Sinfath
Summary: Cloud is looking for Yuna but gets a big surprise when he finds her.


Cloud had looked everywhere for her. Sure he said 'them' but he meant 'her'. He didn't know why he couldn't get the girl out of his head. Sure she had been pretty, traveling the worlds looking for spheres. Maybe it was that she was looking for someone too. But he had found Aerith. Maybe it was curiosity to see if she had found what she was looking for.

He was only kidding himself with those excuses and he knew it.

He was simply fascinated by her. Sure her friends had been pretty, the bouncy blonde, the silent warrior that he had seen some of himself in, but she had been so many contradictions rolled into one it should have been illegal. Pretty, yet sexy; innocent, yet so wise, more than she should be at her young age; strong, yet fragile.

There was so much hope in her eyes when she had asked their gathered group if they had heard rumors of spheres. It had melted his heart, just a little, when her face had fallen for that split second before she hid behind her mask and gave them a sweet smile and a 'thank you for your time' before heading out the door.

He had followed and she had known he was there even when he had been trying to hide. He could still see the way her curiosity had shown in her bi-colored eyes.

_She turned and looked right at him. "Can I help you?" _

_He was startled to say the least, after all he had been being quiet, not 'hunting Sephiroth' quiet but more than even most of his team would have been able to notice._

_She shrugged at his silence and turned to walk back to his ship so he followed once again there she turned to him with a sly smile and introduced him to her friends. _

He loved how expressive her face got when she wasn't trying to hide behind the mask that Rikku had called a 'Summoner's Mask' he had been confused until Rikku and Paine had told him about their home world. He thought he might like to go there one day, once everything else had been taken care of and the worlds restored.

Then one day they had left, He felt a bit betrayed until he saw the note Yuna had left.

_Cloud, _

_Sorry we didn't get to say goodbye there was a lead on a sphere that couldn't wait and I didn't know where you stayed. I, I mean we, would love to come back to visit some time. Until then._

_Yuna_

It still hurt for some reason but he went on. A few months later he had found Aerith. But he still couldn't stop looking. Then he realized that he wanted to find her, he couldn't wait until they came to Radiant Garden on a lead. So he searched and came back to check on rumors of them from time to time. That's how he found out their home had been destroyed. He grieved then. Something told him they were safe but there were rumors they had been seen on the planet around the same time.

He almost gave up when there were no knew rumors. Then Sora had mentioned their names to Leon and he had hoped again. Then he described them. Yeah that sounded like them but _fairies_? They hadn't been fairies. He went back out to find rumors.

He saw their ship fly over his head a few months later. They were heading to Radiant Garden! He got on his bike and rode as fast as he could. He burst into Leon's only to stop dead.

They looked just like the Gullwings he had known but they _were fairies!_ Yuna and the others turned to look at him. He saw recognition dart over their faces and then they were floating around him dancing happily. He knew his face had not lost the shocked quality by the way his group was laughing at him.

Yuna finally noticed he didn't look as happy to see them as they were him.

"Cloud what's wrong?"

He just looked at her for a second before he found his voice, her face was still so expressive. "How did you, what happ-, are you ok?" he finally just settled on that.

"Oh, yeah we are great. Ooooh, you mean the whole tiny thing huh?" She looked a bit sheepish. "Well see we had been leaving Spira after our visit and there were these guys in black robes. We managed to hurt a few of them but then we were captured and taken. Our planet was destroyed as we watched." Cloud was getting angry but he wouldn't let it show. "We almost managed to get away but something weird happened when our planet went up. My Aeons came to us and said that because we had fought so hard that they were going to help us and then they gave us these forms! They are a lot of fun even if they make everything else seem so big but look!"

She shimmered and her form seemed to shift and there in front of him was Yuna, just as she had been when he left her. She was giving him a smile he had never seen before, it was warm and meant solely for him. He wanted her to never stop giving him that smile.

He smiled back at her, happy for the longest time. Then he thought of something.

"Did you ever find what you were looking for?"

Her smiled shifted it was no longer so warm, it was maybe, just a little, pained but still a smile.

"Yeah I found him" it was a him, Cloud almost sighed "But he couldn't come back, the Fayth said they couldn't go back to sleep again but they did let me see his spirit one more time. It meant a lot and now I can move on, now that I know I did all I could to bring him back." Because of Rikku's explanation he knew what all of that meant.

Then she looked at him with that smile again although there was a hint of mischief in her eyes. "But guess what?"

He looked at her with a little bit of curiosity, and a hint of uncertainty. "What?"

She launched herself at him and buried her face in his neck. She mumbled "I missed you."

Cloud caught her even though it took his mind a second to process what she was doing then she whispered to him. He wrapped his arms tight around her and buried his face in her hear, breathing in her scent. "I missed you too."

Neither remembered the other people that had left the room to give them privacy.

-------

Rikku and Paine looked ready to burst they were smiling so big. "Finally! Yunie has been so down since we had to leave Cloud, now we know why!" Paine just smiled and nodded.

Leon answered her "Yeah Cloud has been searching everywhere for you guys but now we know it wasn't all of you he was frantic to find."

--------

They had no idea that just in the other room Yuna and Cloud were sharing their first kiss together.


End file.
